Controversies in Second Language Writing

Dilemmas and Decisions in Research and Instruction

Christine Pearson Casanave

Publication Year: 2013

Controversies in Second Language Writing is not a how-to book, but one that focuses on how teachers in L2 writing can be helped to make reasoned decisions by understanding some of the key issues and conflicting opinions about L2 writing research and pedagogy. This book will assist teachers in making informed decisions about teaching writing in the ESL classroom. To counteract some of the debates, Casanave explores the different sides of the arguments and provides examples of how other teachers have dealt with these issues. The book presents novice and seasoned teachers with thought-provoking issues and questions to consider when determining and reflecting on their own teaching strategies and criteria. Topics discussed include: contrastive rhetoric, product vs. process, fluency and accuracy, assessment of student work, audience, plagiarism, politics, and ideology.

Cover

Title Page, Copyright

Contents

Series Foreword

More than a decade ago Tony Silva (1990)
observed that the “merry-go-round of approaches” in the field
of second language writing “generates more heat than light
and does not encourage consensus on important issues” (p. 18).
Silva noted further that “such a situation engenders a great
deal of confusion and insecurity among ESL composition
teachers” (p. 18). ...

Introduction

Controversies in Second Language Writing:
Dilemmas and Decisions in Research and Instruction (henceforth
Controversies) is a book designed to help L2 writing
teachers make informed decisions in their writing classes and
build a knowledge base for conducting research on L2 writing. ...

1. Beliefs and Realities: A Framework for Decision Making

Teachers make hundreds of decisions in their classrooms
every day. Some decisions involve planning. With greater or
lesser degrees of control over their decisions, teachers decide
what content to teach, what materials to use, what sequences to present content in, what pedagogical activities to set up
using different participation structures, ...

2. Contrastive Rhetoric

Contrastive rhetoric (CR) as a field of study began with the
publication of Robert Kaplan’s 1966 article in Language Learning.
Kaplan assumed a kind of linguistic relativity, specifically
that the rhetorical aspects of each language are unique
to each language and culture. ...

3. Paths to Improvement

Perhaps the most consuming of all dilemmas for L2 writing
teachers is how to best help their students improve their writing.
The dilemma involves not only the need for teachers to
have a sense of what they mean by improvement but also an
idea of what the diverse and sometimes competing and controversial
opinions are about the approaches and practices
that best lead to improvement. ...

4. Assessment

Many of the decisions that both L1 and L2 writing teachers
make in their classes revolve around assessment of students’
writing. Assessment activities and schemes pervade the
broader system of schooling as well. Indeed, in most countries
assessment of all kinds, not just of writing, is such an
inherent part of the whole enterprise of schooling that it is difficult
to imagine doing without it. ...

5. Interaction

Interaction is a word we often see associated with studies of
second language acquisition, a common belief being that children
and adults learn a second language in great part by interacting
with other people. Through these interactions, they
receive input, negotiate and construct meaning, acquire sociolinguistic
competence, ...

6. Politics and Ideology

A number of unresolved issues concerning the politics and
ideology of language teaching face L2 writing teachers as they
make decisions about how best to design and carry out instructional
activities. In this chapter, I discuss three of them:
critical and pragmatist stances toward academic writing; ...

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